dobbins



(No Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheet 1. D. DOBBINS. VOTING MACHINE.

No. 530,752.- Patented Dec. 11, 1894 THE NQRMS PEYERS co. FHOTO-LITHKL.

QXMM o (No Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheet 2.

D. DOBBINS.

VOTING MACHINE.

No. 530,752. Patented Dec. 11,1894.

\ r N a w W I A wit neon a0 "3 gmwmtoz 3 m 8M! 0 331 awom wf 9 UNITED STATES DOUGLAS DOBBINS, OF FRANKLIN,

PATENT OFFICE.

INDIANA, ASSIGNOR TO THOMAS J.

OOYLE, WM. B. JENNINGS, THOMAS E. VALENTINE, F. N. WHITESIDES, WM. D. WELSH, EMIL I-I. JENNINGS, BENJAMIN P. BROWN, JESSE T. OVERSTREET, AND L. BYRON WVHITESIDES, OF SAME PLACE, AND JOHN C. MCNUTT, OF INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA.

VOTING-MACHINE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 530,? 52, dated December 11, 1 894.

Application filed June 26, 1893. Serial No. 478,804. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, DOUGLAS DOBBINS, of Franklin, county of Johnson and State of Indiana, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Voting-Machines; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description thereof, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, in which like figures refer to like parts.

My invention relates to a voting machine adapted to record votes and to prevent any interference with the voter, any knowledge of how he voted, any duplication of a vote and any interference with the ballots. The

form I have invented is adapted especially to carry out the Australian system of voting to a degree of secrecy, accuracy and honesty not capable of being attained without a machine of the character of mine.

In a booth of the ordinary form used under the Australian system, I locate a desk or a table over whose surface a continuous ballot sheet or roll of tickets is moved by machinery actuated by a pedal fioor on which the voter stands when he enters the booth, and on the top of the desk or table I provide a series of stamps adapted to stamp the ballot at the head of any ticket or opposite any name on the ballot. When the voter has thus stamped his ballot and leaves the booth, the door of the booth releases the pedal floor. \Vhcn the next voter enters, the depression of the pedal floor through suitable mechanism rolls the continuous ballot sheet far enough to remove the ballot previously voted out of sight onto a suitable roll and bring into its proper place the next ballot.

The features and character of my invention will more fully appear from the following description and accompanying drawings.

Figure 1 is a cross vertical section of my voting machine, the booth being partly broken away as indicated, for convenience in making the drawing. Fig. 2 is a plan view of my voting machine, a section of it being partly broken away. Fig. 3 is a horizontal section of my voting machine, shown just beneath the lid of the desk. Fig. 4. shows some of the stamps and means of holding them in place, and Fig. 5 is a central vertical section of the stamp and two separating blocks used to separate the stamps from each other.

1 is the side wall of a voting booth of ordinary form; 2, the back; 3, the floor, and 4. the

door of the same.

5 is a pedal floor hinged to the front part of the floor 3 by the hinge 6 and supported at its rear by a spiral ring 7.

8 is a pawl pivoted at the rear of the floor 3 and extending through the same, and adapted when the pedal floor 5 is pushed down to engage the rear of the same and hold it down.

9 is a link connected to the lower end of the pawl 8 and provided at its other end with a slot at 10 through which operates loosely a pin 11 secured to the outer end of the lever 12, which is in turn secured to the lower part of the door l, all in such manner that when the door is opened the lever 12 will move the pin 11 through the slot 10 of the link 9 until the door is about half open, when the pin 11 reaches the end of the slot, whereupon the lever 12 withdraws the link 9 thereby causing the pawl 8 to release the pedal floor 5.

Loosely pivoted to the pedal floor 5 at its rear is an upright bar 13, whose upper end is held in place by a guide bracket 1%. Pivoted to this bar 13 is a pawl 15, so constructed that it will engage the ratchet wheel 16 when the bar 13 moves downward, and thus operate such wheel, but when the bar 13 moves upward it will move past the teeth of the ratchet wheel 16. The'ratchet wheel 16 is mounted on a shaft 17 and is prevented from turning in the wrong direction by the pivoted pawl 18. On this shaft 17 is a sprocket wheel 19 either separate or integral with the ratchet wheel 16, but so constructed that they will move in unison. About the sprocket wheel 19 is a sprocket chain 20 which operates the spur wheel 21 mounted on the shaft 22. On

the same shaft 22 is a pulley connected by the band 23 to a pulley on the roll 2%. The spur wheel 21 when operated engages and 5 operates the spur wheel 25 on the shaft 26.

On this shaft 26 is a pulley 27 connected by a band 28 to the pulley 29 and the roll 30. The rolls 24 and 30, as well as the shafts 22 and 26 are mounted in the sides of the desk 31.

32 is a smooth board supported by the brackets 33 which are secured to the sides of the desk 31.

34 is a small roll mounted in the sides of the desk 31 and located near the lower end of the board 32, as seen in Fig. 1.

35 is a roll mounted in the sides of the desk 31 on which is wound the ballots which are printed in succession on a continuous sheet of paper 36. This ballot sheet is passed up between the rolls 24 and 30 over the small roll 34 and over the smooth board 32 and between the rolls 37 mounted on the shafts 22 and 26, and is wound on the roll 38, which is actuated by the spring 39, one end of which spring is secured to the back of the desk. The roll 38 is mounted in the sides of the desk 31.

is the frame of the lid to the desk 31 hinged at the rear to the desk at 41.

' 42 are guide pieces secured to the frame 40 in pairs, there beinga pair over the space separating the list of names on the ballot from each other. These guide pieces 42 have on one side flanged brackets 43, in which are fitted strips of glass 44, as seen in Fig. 2, each strip of glass being the width of a list of names on the ballot so as to reveal all of such names. Between the guide pieces 42 which form each pair, are stamps 45. These stamps 45 consist of a push-rod 46 with a finger piece 47 on the top thereof, and operate vertically through a sleeve 48 which contains a spiral spring 49, all mounted on a block 50, which block is adapted to be slipped in between the guide pieces 42 which form a pair and is held in place by the flanges 51 on the inner side of such guide pieces 42. On the lower end of the push rod 46 is a die 52 for stamping. The stamps are separated by blocks 53, which may be of such size and number as to enable the stamps to be located opposite the names as printed on the ballot. 54 is a locking strip pivoted at 55 and locked at its other end by the pad-lock 56 to the staple 57. The looking strip 54 is provided with an extension 58 located at the proper place to enter between the guide pieces 42 which form each pair, to hold the stamps in their proper place between such guide pieces. This part of the locking strip is shown in Fig. 4, by a section thereof.

59 is an inked ribbon secured to the frame 40, by means of the cross pieces 60, and located immediately beneath the stamps, in such manner that when the stamps are operated they will press the ribbon against the ballot at the right place and thereby stamp such ballot.

61 is a stamp which is larger than the rest of the stamps in the same series and used for the purpose of stamping a ballot so as to vote a straight ticket. When a straight ticket is not voted, the smaller stamps are used opposite the name of all the candidates for whom the voter desires to cast his ballot. So far as the stamping of the ballot is concerned my invention enables the stamping to be done according to the present custom under the Australian ballot law, or as may be otherwise provided.

62 is a vertical partition extending from the lower side of the desk to the pedal floor 5.

It will be plain from the foregoing description that when a voter enters a booth he must necessarily stand on the pedal floor 5 and stand there while he is in the booth. When he does so he will push such pedal floor 5 down until it is engaged by the pawl 8, which will hold the floor down in a certain position While he is in the booth. The downward movement of the floor will actuate the wheel 19, the chain 20 and all the rolls mounted in the desk and cause the rolls 24 and 30 to draw the ballot sheet 36 from the roll 35, and the spring 39 will actuate the roll 38 so as to take up the slack in the ballot sheet between it and the rolls 24 and 30 and thereby draw such ballot sheet over the board 32. The gearing of the wheels must be such that the downward movement of the pedal floor 5 will shift the ballot sheet just enough to bring the next ballot in the proper place, so that there will be a stamp opposite each name. Therefore when the voter approaches the desk the preceding ballot has been removed from his view and rolled onto the roll 38. The voter then proceeds to stamp his ballot in accordance with the provisions of law made in relation thereto. While he is standing at the desk he can in no wise operate or interfere with the machinery which operates the ballot sheet, and therefore can stamp but one ballot. Neither can he interfere with any preceding ballot. After he has finished voting he leaves the booth; the door by means of the link 9 releases the pedal floor 5 and the machine is ready for the next voter. After all the voting is done the election inspectors can by unlocking the desk, take out the rolls 35 and 38. The roll 35 will have wound on it all the unvoted ballots, which can be readily counted, and the roll 38 will have on it all the voted ballots which can be counted as the roll is unwound. It will thus be seen that the machine is simple, automatic and cannot be tampered with by any voter.

I do not lay claim to invention in some of the minor details of the machine which has just been described, nor do I wish to be confined to the form of such details therein shown, as there are many well known means of carrying out my invention in its detail. Thus instead of stamping a ballot it could be perforated by making the proper die on the stamp, removing the ribbon 59, and making a proper die on the board 32, or otherwise marking such ballot. A locking rod could also be readily provided if desired, whereby when a voter had voted a straight ticket by operating only the stamps, 61, all the other stamps could be locked, and he could not through ignorance stamp his ballot elsewhere and thus render it invalid.

Any well known means of transmitting power from the pedal floor 5 to the mechanism in the desk could be readily substituted for what I have here shown.

What I claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. A voting machine consisting of a desk, a top over such desk consisting of glass panels, rows of spring controlled stamps beside such panels, a continuous ballot sheet between the desk and glass panels, one ticket being under one glass panel, and the party emblem and each candidates name being 0pposite the stamps, a roll within such desk on which such vballot sheet is wound, a pair of contiguous rolls between which such ballot sheet may pass, means of actuating such rolls in opposite directions, and a spring actuated roll adapted to draw the ballot sheet over the top of the desk and around itself far enough to withdraw as voted ticket and to 2 5 substitute for it a new ticket properly located, substantially as shown and described.

2. A voting machine consisting of a booth, a desk, a set of rolls adapted to feed a continuous ballot sheet over the top of the desk, a pedal, a vertical bar mounted thereon and provided with an actuating pawl, a ratchet wheel mounted on a shaft in the booth, a sprocket wheel on such shaft, a sprocket wheel mounted on a roll in the desk, a sprocket chain connecting the sprocket wheels, pulleys connecting the rolls, and means of marking such ballot sheet, substantially as shown and described.

In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand this 13th day of June, 1893.

DOUGLAS DOBBINS,

Witnesses:

V. H. LooKWoon, N. D. TILFORIL 

